by Massive Voodoo

Heyho Jungle,

while Roman is still on blogging holidays until his return from his short US trip, we got splendid news concerning the NOVA Open 2016.

A speedpainted 15 minute Zombie, by Roman

One of Roman's seminars in DC is called "Roman's Speedpainting Masterclass" and is teachig students how to paint up a Zombie in about 15 minutes. Therefor Roman was in need of plenty of Zombiemodels for his students.

by Massive Voodoo

This interview was formerly posted on NOVA Open's facebook page, but the jungle thought to copy it in here too! Enjoy!

Letting the Miniature Speak to You:
NOVA Open Speaks with Raffa Picca and Roman Lappat of Massive Voodoo

Recently, the NOVA Open had a chance to talk with Raffa "Picster" Picca
and Roman "jarhead" Lappat, the co-founders of Massive Voodoo, "a blog
by a group of friends about the passion of miniature painting and
sculpting."

As friends and co-founders, Raffa and Roman expanded the
blog from a showcase of their work and teaching tutorials to a
comprehensive multi-lingual resource for painting and creating
miniatures that allows individuals to learn about topics ranging from
the theory of painting to approaches for sculpting miniatures. The
artists have also turned the website into a storefront for the Massive
Voodoo team's miniatures and have published an art book titled Figure-Art showcasing their impressive work.

Raffa and Roman joined the
NOVA Open Community as NOVA Open 2015 seminar instructors and model
donors to the NOCF after Mike Brandt, CEO of NOVA Open and Justin McCoy,
Owner of Secret Weapon Miniatures recruited them. "NOVA Open was a
great event and we are really lucky and happy to be back this year,"
said Raffa. This year, the artists will be teaching the following
courses:

Massive Voodoo will also be generously
donating two miniatures each for the NOCF charity raffle: Raffa will
donate "The Great White Werebull" and "First Ranger Mira" while Roman
will donate "Crashed X-Wing" and "Kill. Humans." The NOVA Open is
excited to have Raffa and Roman contribute their immense talents to the
convention and NOCF.

Read below to learn more about the founding
of Massive Voodoo, their insights into the process for painting
miniatures, and the artists' seminars for NOVA Open 2016.

Roman and Raffa's Founding of Massive Voodoo, "A Living Room of Friends Sharing the Same Passion"
Massive Voodoo grew from Roman's idea to create a blog that showcased
his work and tutorials for painting miniatures, an idea that Raffa
helped shaped. As Raffa noted, "we were having a chat, and I said to
him, "why don't you use a blog, I think it would fit much better to what
you want to do." After launching the blog in September 2009, Raffa and
Roman decided to invite their friends to collaborate on the website. "It
was a bit boring to do it alone," Raffa said, so "we started to invite
friends and basically it was a living room of friends sharing the same
passion."

As Massive Voodoo has grown, the artists have found
that their audiences' growth as miniature painters and sculptors has
been the most fulfilling component of operating the blog. As Raffa
explained, "if you see the progress of regular visitors - and the way
they lose the fear of doing things wrong and try out new things - that's
the best part." In light of these successes, the origin of its name
remains a mystery. "No one exactly knows why it was called Massive
Voodoo," Raffa said. "We needed a name and then we found a name," Roman
added, laughing.

The artists' work through their website has
allowed them to note evolutions in painting styles across the world over
time. "When I think back when I started, the differences in the styles
were much more visible, like the French style, the Spanish style," Raffa
noted, "but these days, the styles are more mixed." According to Roman,
the melding of these styles emerged from the miniature communities'
willingness to share tips and ideas online. As he observed, "nobody is
saying, 'hey, I'm keeping my secrets.' Everyone is sharing their ideas
and I think that leads to a better mix of different styles."
Letting the Miniature Speak to You: The Artists' Inspiration for Painting Miniatures and Advice for Other Hobbyists.

While Roman and Raffa have refined their painting techniques over time,
the two artists explain that letting their intuition guide the painting
process plays a major role in their work. As Raffa explains, "I don't
try to think too much about color schemes, I just try to paint the way
the miniatures are talking to me. If you look at the mini, often times
you already see the story you want to tell other people." Roman agrees,
noting that "it's a vision you receive from the model and then you just
paint it."
The artists' emphasis on letting intuition play a
role in painting miniatures extends to their advice for other hobbyists.

As Roman reflects,
I would say it is important if you start
painting, try to know where you are on your path. You're walking a path
as a miniature painter like you're walking a path as a guitar player.
You start to play the strings, then you learn another song. You're
growing and going forward in your journey. That's the same for miniature
painters. And very often people compare themselves to other people who
are much further on their own personal journey and they get frustrated.
So know where you're walking on the path.

Roman agrees, noting
that painters should also "play around" with different painting styles
and see what works for them rather than rigidly following one approach.
"Maybe wet blending is not your thing, maybe you like glazes, or the
other way around," he said, "but if you never try it out, you will never
find out."

Blending Courses and Crashed X-Wings: Roman and Raffa's Road to NOVA Open 2016
This year, Raffa and Roman will serve as instructors for ten courses
and donate two models each to the NOCF raffles. The artists drew
inspiration from video games and found objects for their NOCF models.
Roman's "Crashed X-Wing" came from a moment of inspiration that turned a
former student's gift into the miniature. After a student gave him a
miniature of the Star Wars ship, Roman kept it in a drawer for two years
since he could not find the right idea for the miniature. After seeing
some garbage on the street however, he said "I thought that it looks
like a planet and a place to have the X-Wing crash there. So I was
inspired by garbage."

The inspiration for Raffa's "First Ranger Mira"
model came from a mage in the Witcher 3 video game: "I tried to use her
as an inspiration and recreate it with red hair and a green color
scheme," he said.

The artists are also looking forward to helping
their students improve their skills as artists and sculptors at their
NOVA Open 2016 seminars. In addition to "Laid Back Speed Painting,"
Raffa is excited about "The Birth of a Miniature" seminar since it will
"show the process of a complete figure basically from start to finish,
from the first drawing of an idea to the finished product." The artist
said the course reflects his growing interest in miniature sculpting.
"It's the thing that I'm doing the most - sculpting, creating my own
concepts, and casting," he said, noting that he works resin and silicone
for casting and different clays and putties for sculpting.

Roman also is excited about "Roman's Blending School" since he believes
it will address the frustration that many painters feel "from their
blending technique or their blending results." In order to address this
issue, his seminar will use a unique approach where students work on
color transitions on canvas before applying these concepts to
miniatures. "This will be a fun class that teaches many blending
techniques," he said, "but it also takes away being scared of blending
mistakes. So I'm looking forward to it because it gives participants a
lot of freedom when they're at home working again."

The NOVA Open
and NOCF would like to thank Raffa and Roman for generously giving
their time and effort to support our work and causes.

This is review #86, but it will not be about the nicely wraped parcel, we announced in the last MUs, as Roman is presently taking vacation time from the blog until end of August.

Today we will have a look on Meinolf, the Last Captain, sculpted by Jorge Ayora (Ayora Studio).

Some day ago, Peter received a nice little parcel from Spain...

Inside he found a small plastic bag from Ayora Studio with a nice message from Jorge. Peter preordered the miniature in May as the miniature reminded him of the Empire Soldier Markus Kruber from the videogame "Vermintide". Raffa, Roman and Peter were playing the game in spring while waiting on Total War: Warhammer and enjoyed some nice hours with smacking Skaven into pieces...

Some data about the miniature:

sculptor: Oriol Quin

scale: 54mm

material: resin

parts: 6

head

torso

base

arm + shield

arm + sword

scabbard

price: 21,90 EUR + shipping

copies available: 75

The first look at the parts reveal a very good quality in sculpting and casting. There are only a few places where you have to remove small remains of resin. Especially the body is highly detailed and very interesting due to it´s simplicity. If you are interested in painting metallics and create a nice contrast with fabric texture, we can highly recommend to give this miniature a try.

Both arms with the armaments follow the high quality of the body. Almost all remains of resin are found on the sword and the shield. As you can see, it´s not a big deal to remove them. But here some advice.

The shield offers a nice area for freehands as it´s without any decorations. As you can see on the pictures below, we found a little hole in the shield. This is not very surprising as the resin is very thin in this area. Either you can fill it up with Miliput or - as Peter will do - use it for an arrow, which has hit the shield.

The most important part of a miniature is its face. Our captain looks very determined. As the face is not covered by a helmet you will have a lot of fun while painting it!

Assembling the miniature is very easy. The parts fit perfectly and with a small amount of superglue you will be ready for priming in about 20 minutes. Here a look from four different angles at the assembled Meinolf (without cleaning or the scabbard as he will move back into Peter´s shelf for a moment).

If you want to get your own copy of Meinolf, the Last Captain, have look at the shop of Ayora Studio. Peter is very happy with his copy and eager to paint it. But at first he has some other stuff which cries for being finished. But he has already prepared his collection of inspirational pictures on Pinterst.

by Massive Voodoo

Hey jungle,

as you all know, MassiveVoodoo is a community of painters who share - together with our common hobby - a close friendship. Over the years all of us have evolved in their skills, thanks to the great chance of exchanging experiences and knowledge during long painting nights. We want to encourage all of you, to keep on happy painting and to stay hungry for new knowledge. Improving in your painting is not a question of talent, it´s more about regular practice and patience. None of us was born a good painter, we just evolved over the years.

So, Peter thought, it might be interesting for you to see, from which level he came, when he started painting display miniatures and how his experiences have affected his models over the years.

As I have written in my self-description, I started painting display miniatures back in 2007/08. Before, I was a tabletop gamer and did some commissions while doing my studies. It feels like a lifetime ago, but thanks to my hard drive and the internet, I have found some old goodies. Let´s do a little journey through my gallery which developed very much in the last years. As you will see, I started like all of you: simple paintjobs, but enjoying the hobby very much.

2006:
The oldest picture I could find: my Grey Knights. Up to 2006 I was a regular gamer, but already cared very much about the look of my army. After my first armies (Warhammer Fantasy & 40k) where painted very quickly and efficient, I
wanted my "Grey" Knights to appear more outstanding. I already had some years of painting experience and while working in the local GW-store in Augsburg and with the help of some gamer friends, I improved my techniques a lot. As you can see on the pictures, I was trying to make the armour look like made of cold lava, with some still hot, molten spots.

And here another goody: an old Vostroyan soldier which was a test
miniature for a commission. I think you can call this the maximum of
my skills in these times. Pretty good, I guess :-) sorry for the scary
collage, I just used the original file I published in those days...

These miniatures where all done, when I met Roman for the first time, back in spring 2006. In the following years we had painting nights on a regular basis and he shared his knowledge about miniatures with me.

2009:
Now we have to skip some years. Sadly, I was not able to recover any pictures from my paintings in 2007 and 2008. As it seems, the internet is really "forgetting" things, at least my hard drive did so :-(

As you can see, my skills were developing a bit. In 2009 I had already stopped any tabletop gaming and was full into miniature painting. I lived very close to Roman´s place and we were painting very often. To be honest, it was quite a hard time for him. He wanted to teach me a lot of things, but I was a stubborn student with a lot of impatience. I recall when we were painting our projects for a competition in the local GW store. I had one of the "new" Juggernauts on my table and Roman gave me a lot of input about painting metallics and eye catching effects. I would say, he did at least 50% of the miniature. Funfact: In the end I made 1st place with the Juggernaut, he placed 3rd with his own project ;-)

2010:
This is the only miniature I painted in 2010 due to my final exams and my 3-month-internship in Egypt. As you can see, I did not make any big progress in my skills. Time was short and sadly I had a big lack of motivation. If I recall right, I was thinking about quitting the whole hobby.

2011:
Things changed in 2011. In this year, I made the biggest developments so far, which supports the theory of a high always following upon a down. I was painting a lot with Raffa and Roman, which were supporting me with advice and sharing their own experiences. As you can see in the following picture, I took my first attempts in painting zenithal light.

This was one of my first historical miniatures. I had already painted a Gladiator back in 2009, but as I stripped it off paint, I call this here my first "finished" 54mm miniature. I like the leather-effect and the unwittingly slight attempts to atmosphere-painting.

Many of you will know the "situation" when I painted this demonette. It was one of Roman´s early painting classes and the first class I have ever joined. It had the same effect on me like on so many other students. It was some kind of eye-opening event. I learnt a lot about color theory and was now able to further improve my skills.

Then, my first big diorama: The Rising. At the beginning I wanted to do a complete different project, but struggled very hard with it. In April we were doing some kind of painting bootcamp with 8 painters at Raffa´s place to prepare our projects for Duke of Bavaria. All of them invested their knowledge and gave me input for the project, Raffa even sculpted the necromancer. I call The Rising a project of friendship and it´s still one of my favourite pieces in my cabinet.

In this year, I also had one of my most known "happy little accidents": I melted a Pegaso Gladiator. What happened? Back then, I was starting to use oil colors and in order to fasten the drying process, I put the miniature regularly into my old gas oven. Everything worked fine and I was very proud about the new level I took when it comes to painting skin. But the gods of painting where having their funny day, and during the last drying process, the white metal was too weakend and broke right above the ankles. The miniature fell down onto the heat plate and melted. Everything happens for a reason....

Before:

After:

2012:

In this year, I had to leave Augsburg and started my new job in Reutlingen. I still kept contact with Roman and Raffa and visited them as often as possible. But I would say it was an important step in my development as a painter. I had to use my knowledge I accumulated without having somebody in the back in case something went wrong. I also made my first attempts on busts, a Norman Knight (Young Miniatures).

Another bust quickly followed: a Ghoul... and here we have another happy accident. The bust was a present for Roman. He took the bust home, bust sadly one of his cats found big interest in it: it gnawed on the bust. Roman took the chance and improved the bust by painting all the gnaw marks as bloody scars. Everything happens...

2013:

I joined Roman on a lot of his classes and supported him as some kind of "sidekick". It was a new experience for me. By helping his students, I was able to fix my own knowledge even when I was not painting so regularly anymore. But the classes gave me the chance to start new, simple projects and to finish them in three days. The Predator was started and finished during the Beginner Class in Schöppenstedt.

I was also able to get new input. I took part in Karol Rudyk´s class in Berlin. It was an interesting experience to meet a painter with so many skills and a complete different approach towards his miniatures. If you have the chance, take part in one of his classes and enjoy the flying (word!) brushes full of colors. The most important lesson learnt: maximize contrast!

2014:
In 2014 I had some of the famous "click"-moments. While painting my miniatures, somehow the experiences which I made over the last years came together, somehow making sense and pushing me foreward.

Theseus´ Destiny was born out of a simple idea I developed with some friends during a painting bootcamp in my flat. I wanted to do something complete new and do "two" scenes, which are connected to each other, in a single project. My most favourite piece until today!

Sha´Un was basically a study about rust. I likr beastmen very much and in my imagination these human/animals don´t care a lot about their armour. The special effects from ModelMates helped here, but I used different other materials to get as close as possible to natural rust.

I also joined a class with Fernado Ruiz to get more technical input. Same as with Karol´s class in 2014, it helped me push my understanding of painting further. This times, it was more about volumes and different materials.

2015:
The year started with another class. Alfonso Giraldes visited Augsburg and held a three day class with a big group of well-experienced painters. It was a fascinating weekend and my brain was full with his approach towards color and painting. I began to get rid of the ideas about the "perfect blending" and to find my fun in painting again. Just happy painting with powerful colors, not forcing yourself towards perfection.

Sadly, I was pretty stressed during the rest of the year. My job was annoying and I was preparing to change it, which included moving to Stuttgart. I started some projects, but none of them got finished. I even started a small 40k-army project, but it never made it over the first concept miniature.

2016:
This year turned out to be one of my best years in painting so far. After I moved to Stuttgart and was able to visit Augsburg more often, my mood calmed and I was more motivated into painting again. Two events were very important for this: first, Roman gave me a Privat Coaching at the beginning of the year. Second, I took part in Roman´s Advanced Class. Both were mainly about painting atmosphere, but also helped me improve my techniques.

I would say that because of both events, I had another, very intense "click"-moment. The two projects, I finished afterwards were much more detailed and more intense in regard to color intensity.

The Roman Centurion was started in early 2015 and remained as a WiP in the cabinet for a long time. When looking at it, I can see some elements from my old way of painting, but also some first attempts in using an atmospheric painting.

Today, when I look at my painting table I can already see further developments. I paint more freely and without any force. I enjoy my hobby, even if it sometimes causes trouble and heavy thoughts. I have learnt, that there are always ups and downs. There is no way in changing this and no sense in even trying to force you to anything. But by ending this (quite long) article, I´m proud about the development of my painting skills over the last ten years.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and it helps you understand two important things:

Development needs time, but with additional/new input, patience and practice you will go forward.

Paint with friends and discuss your projects. By giving detailed feedback and sharing your knowledge you will become more sure of it and others will also have the chance to develop.

Search Massive Voodoo

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Welcome to the Jungle...

... MASSIVE VOODOO’s jungle, where some apes share their thoughts and ideas around their beloved passion, the hobby of miniature painting and sculpting.

Feel welcome to come and check the jungle for tons of articles, interesting tutorials, creative competitions and the simple joy of happy painting hidden behind every tree. We hope that everyone finds their own banana in here, if not do not hesitate to ask the apes. We are more than happy for you to post in the comments section to help turn this jungle into the lush, overgrown painting corner we hope it will become.